Weekend Planner: Music

A set of variations on the 17th-century British carol “I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In,” local composer Clifton J. Noble Jr.’s latest work is described as “a rollicking sail through several keys and characters that visits all of the ‘families’ of the orchestra.”

“Most of the variations are boisterous and devil-may-care, salty and danceable, particularly a persistent hoedown that’s only missing a concertina to qualify as a heel-kicking sea-chantey,” writes Noble. “The central variation takes as its inspiration ‘our savior Christ and his lady’ and lulls the lilting tune into a long-metered lullaby with which Mary might (had she taken Jesus aboard ship) have soothed her son from the rocking of the waves.”

The work will receive its world premiere Sunday afternoon when the Holyoke Civic Symphony presents its “Little Tin Horns” seasonal concert at the Holyoke Community College Fine and Performing Arts building. Also on the program: Brahms’ rollicking Academic Festival Overture; Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 (Jean Jeffries, soloist); Thomas Hinds’ “Music for Hannukah” plus “Jingle Bells” and other favorites.